


A Mouthful of Air

by the_rck



Series: Nothing Until I Happen [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Family Secrets, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 08:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_rck/pseuds/the_rck
Summary: Luke was horrified by the silent terror on his aunt’s and uncle’s faces when the stormtroopers brought them after him to Ben Kenobi’s home, but the man in the black helmet and cape who commanded the stormtroopers promised that Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen would be protected if Luke didn’t try to run or to fight.





	A Mouthful of Air

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Gonqueasel for the beta read.
> 
> Title from W.B. Yeats's “He thinks of Those who have spoken Evil of his Beloved.”

Luke was horrified by the silent terror on his aunt’s and uncle’s faces when the stormtroopers brought them after him to Ben Kenobi’s home, but the man in the black helmet and cape who commanded the stormtroopers promised that Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen would be protected if Luke didn’t try to run or to fight.

Ben Kenobi or-- as the girl in the hologram called him-- Obi-Wan Kenobi fought. He used a glowing blade like nothing Luke had ever seen before, and the man in the black helmet used one similar but in a different color.

Luke wondered if the colors meant anything. 

Ben ordered Luke to run, and Luke felt a hard push on his mind that almost made his body move without him wanting to, but Luke fought that and stayed. His life was not worth Aunt Beru’s or Uncle Owen’s. They’d disagree, of course, but as long as it was his decision, he’d always choose to protect them.

Luke didn’t give a damn about Ben or about the girl or the droids, not weighed against his family, and he thought that the stranger-- who Ben called Darth Vader and who the stormtroopers addressed as Lord Vader-- was telling the truth. He couldn’t have explained why he thought so, but he didn’t think he was gambling.

He was also pretty sure that he couldn’t keep hiding for as long as the Empire could keep looking. He knew enough to last a good long while in the desert without resupply, but it would be a miserable life. And he wouldn’t be hiding just from the Empire. The world was filled with people who would sell a stranger for the sort of money an Imperial Lord could offer.

And Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen weren’t the only people on Tatooine that might be used as hostages against Luke. They had neighbors. They had Aunt Beru’s brothers and their children. Luke was pretty sure, too, that the monster in black knew that Luke could be stopped with a threat to torture a child that Luke had never before met. That was all part of Luke’s choice, too.

So Luke stood his ground and watched as Old Ben fought Vader and lost to him. Luke was pretty sure that swords were a really stupid weapon to use inside a house the size of Ben’s. The fact that pieces of the walls and roof came down on top of them was proof enough of that. Objects inside the house lifted and flew at both of the men fighting. Luke wasn’t sure if that was something the men were doing deliberately or just some sort of weird side effect of-- well, he couldn’t actually think what it could be a side effect of.

He edged around the fight to go and stand between his aunt and uncle. He put his arm around his aunt’s shoulder. He’d have liked to do the same with his uncle.

Uncle Owen didn’t like that sort of public show of affection, so Luke was surprised when Uncle Owen gripped his shoulder, pressing almost hard enough to bruise. “I’m sorry, Luke.” 

The words were quiet enough that Luke thought the watching stormtroopers didn’t hear. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Luke made his expression hard to hide his own fear. “I’ll make him keep his word.”

Uncle Owen sighed-- Luke could feel it through the hand on his shoulder-- and said, “I think… Family matters to him. Mattered. Once. He still stopped for a moment by the grave.”

Luke was certain that there was more, something else that Uncle Owen wanted Luke to know but that Uncle Owen was afraid to say.

Aunt Beru pressed herself up against Luke’s side and turned her head so that her face was against his neck. She stayed there while the fight went on, and for a while, she didn’t say anything. Then she whispered, “I think not knowing will do you more harm. We thought we could protect you, that no one would ever look on Tatooine. He hates the place, too many memories-- His mother, your grandmother, Owen’s step-mother-- I hope there’s enough of your mother in you to protect you, but he’ll want to make you like him.”

Luke didn’t let himself try to untangle the list of relationships until later. At the time, he thought it was simply that he was too frightened to think about it, but he realized, once he was locked into a very well-appointed suite on Vader’s star destroyer, that thinking about it was dangerous.

If Lord Vader wanted Luke to know that he was his father, Lord Vader would say so. Until then, Luke needed to hide the knowledge. He needed to avoid looking at the fact that every adult in his life had lied to him about who Anakin Skywalker had been.

For the first time in his life, it occurred to Luke that he knew even less about his mother than he did about his father. He should have realized years ago that that was weird. Most people he knew who didn’t know their parents-- for whatever reason-- still knew their mothers’ names. Knowing about their fathers was rarer.

Luke had never heard his mother’s name. He couldn’t explain why he’d never even thought to ask. Why no one else had ever asked. A mother’s name and her mother’s might be the only history someone born a slave had. None of the documents for such families ever mentioned paternity. Establishing that might embarrass the wrong people.

After the fight ended, one stormtrooper moved to put cuffs on Luke. Vader gestured angrily, and the stormtrooper hit the wall of the canyon with an audible crack and didn’t get up again. None of the others tried. Most of them took a half step back, away from Luke’s family.

Even though he was unconscious, Ben Kenobi ended up with heavy cuffs that completely engulfed his hands. His face was covered in blood from having had several heavy objects fly through the air to strike his skull.

Each ‘thunk’ had made Luke flinch. He wasn’t sure why he thought that Ben had allowed it rather than simply having been overwhelmed by his opponent, but Luke was almost certain that the old man had. It made him just slightly less afraid of Vader because Luke was equally certain that the man in black hadn’t realized that.

Once Kenobi was cuffed, Vader gave orders for everything in Kenobi’s home to be packed up for later inspection. He added the droids to the packing list almost as an afterthought. Then he turned to look at Luke and his family. “I want all the boy’s things,” he said. 

Neither Aunt Beru nor Uncle Owen said anything or moved at all.

“He has things, yes?”

For some reason, Luke thought there was worry there, and he thought he remembered being a boy who had to leave home with nothing. Which he didn’t. He hadn’t done that. He very definitely hadn’t.

Luke cleared his throat. “I have things.” He made himself look directly at the point on Darth Vader’s helmet where his eyes ought to be. “And, yes, I would like to take them with me.”

Luke had spent the last few years wanting nothing more than to leave home. Now, he’d give anything in the universe to be able to stay. He made himself smile at Aunt Beru. “This’ll be a better adventure than the Academy.”

He could tell that she didn’t believe his words, not even for a second, but he felt Uncle Owen relax a little.

Vader didn’t say anything for several seconds, but he continued facing Luke. Finally, he nodded. “Good.” He turned his attention to the stormtroopers.

Luke tried not to let his relief show. There was too much risk that his aunt and uncle would notice, would realize that he was terrified. He really didn’t want to leave them with that.

“What did they name you?”

Luke didn’t realize for a moment that Darth Vader was talking to him. When he did, he put his hand on Uncle Owen’s for a moment and gave Aunt Beru a slight squeeze. Then he let go of them both and stepped forward. “Luke,” he said. “Luke Skywalker.”

There was another long moment of silence, then Darth Vader said, “Skywalker is not a safe name to carry. Better be Lars or Whitesun.”

Luke nodded. That was a confirmation of everything he couldn’t afford to think about. “Whitesun, then.”

Uncle Owen didn’t have enough close kin to hide an extra child.

“My men will collect Luke’s things in four hours. For now, you may have time to say goodbye.” There was another moment of silence. “None of you were ever here. Both droids ran away last night. Luke will be... one of several young people who… go with me.”

Luke wondered how the man planned to conceal Luke’s importance given the witnesses. He really hoped he wasn’t about to see a massacre. He turned back and hugged his aunt. “I’ll be careful,” he whispered in her ear. When he hugged his uncle, he said, “Thank you.”

He really hoped they heard everything else that he wanted to say. All the times he’d talked about leaving home, he hadn’t really thought about saying goodbye.

Of course, then, he hadn’t considered that it might be forever.

“Come, Luke,” Darth Vader said. “This will be your first lesson in using the Force.”

**Author's Note:**

> I suspect there will be sequel stories, but I can't promise right now. Something might occur to me tomorrow, but it also might take months or even years.


End file.
